Holding You
by thedreamygirl
Summary: Sequel to ‘The Best Bad Birthday Ever’. After being roommates for all of two whole days, Haley James thought she would never see Nathan Scott again. But, when they meet accidentally, they find themselves soon becoming friends and…roommates?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Holding You

**Author:** Hana (thedreamygirl)

**Rating:** Teen

**Pairing:** Nathan/Haley

**Disclaimer:** One Tree Hill and its characters are owned by Schwahn and his team. The title of this story and all the chapter titles are lyrics from the song 'I Don't Want To Be Your Friend' by David James (or that's the plan, anyway).

**Summary:** Sequel to 'The Best Bad Birthday Ever'. After being roommates for all of two whole days, Haley James thought she would never see Nathan Scott again. But, when they meet accidentally, they find themselves soon becoming friends and…roommates?

**A/N:** Yes, it's a new story, but with 'Always Love' drawing to its inevitable end, I won't be juggling two stories for long. I'm not sure how long updates will take me so I'm not going to estimate, however, rest assured it won't be months between chapters or anything like that at all. And even though it's a sequel, you don't have to have read the first one to understand this, but if you do it'll probably be clearer, and it was only two chapters long. Thanks to everyone who loved the first one and wanted a sequel and thanks to Christina for betaing.

**Chapter One: The Day That Made A Difference**

Haley James was at a party. It was surprising, even to her, and she was certain that none of her brothers or sisters would believe her, but it was the truth. Short, mousey, Haley James who had been in bed by ten thirty every night during high school – and out of choice, rather than curfew, no less – was at a party. And not just any party; she was at a fraternity party.

Haley had never thought she'd be invited to this kind of party, and actually she hadn't, but her roommate had been. Brooke Davis wasn't the kind of girl Haley normally associated with. Brooke was loud, outgoing, and she liked to have fun. Not that Haley didn't like to have fun; it was just that her idea of fun was a lot mellower than Brooke's. Nonetheless, she had somehow been able to drag Haley out of their shared dorm room and all the way across campus to this party.

Haley should have made a deal with Brooke to get something in return for this, but Brooke had managed to guilt Haley into coming so she hadn't thought to do so at the time. It had been two weeks since college had started, and although Haley loathed admitting it, she hadn't really made any new friends. She spoke to the people she saw in her classes every now and then, but aside from Brooke there was no one she saw on a regular basis and that was only because they were forced to inhabit the same room for a year. Brooke had pointed out that afternoon that Haley would never make any friends if she stayed cooped up in their room all hours. The girl did have a point. Haley loved her semi-regular telephone conversations with Peyton Sawyer, her best friend from high school, but that wasn't really enough. And even Peyton, who was terrible at letting people in, had started to make friends, or at least one, Haley gathered from Peyton's increasing mention of someone named "Jake".

As a result, Haley had not only let Brooke rope her into coming into this fraternity party, but also into helping her dress, which Haley discovered had been a bad idea.

"A very bad idea," she muttered to herself as the sixth drunken guy passed her way and gave her a once-over along with what he clearly thought was a very sexy smile. Eww.

"Haley, did you just talk to yourself?" Brooke demanded, suddenly returning back from her phone call, which she had to take outside due to the not only loud, but terribly poor taste music playing.

"No," Haley said quickly. "And don't leave me alone like that again. I only came here because you forced me."

"I didn't force you. You came here of your own free will. Plus," Brooke added, scanning the room with an appreciative gaze, "I'm kind of hoping I'll have to leave you alone a bit later. You wouldn't mind if you had to sleep on your own tonight, would you, Haley dear?"

Haley couldn't help but laugh. "I can sleep alone just fine, Brooke. I just don't want to be alone in here will all these weird guys trying to grab my ass."

"Well, you can't blame them, James. Your ass looks pretty damn fine in that skirt of mine. Hey, I just rhymed! Oh my God, I did it again! Well, sort of," Brooke giggled, a loud infectious laugh that caused everyone around them to turn their way, but not in a bad way at all. Haley could tell that even without her clothes and perfectly coiffed hair, Brooke Davis would get attention from guys everywhere, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, she was a little jealous of that. Not that she wanted to be the centre of attention, but some sort of attention from the opposite sex every once in a while wasn't that much to ask for, was it? She'd settle for just one guy, and she knew just the one in particular.

Haley pushed that thought out of her head, reminding herself that she was probably never going to see said guy again and he wouldn't have been interested in her like that anyway. "Brooke," she returned to her friend, who had finally stopped laughing, "you said that I had to come here with you so that we could make friends, not boyfriends."

"Actually," Brooke began, with a look on her face that made Haley start to worry.

"Brooke!"

"Don't get mad! It's not a big deal, really. Just – you remember how I told you that I heard about the party from someone in my lecture this morning?"

"Yes," Haley said sternly.

"Well, it was this guy who I sat next to and he's really really cute, Haley, and he's not in a fraternity but he's friends with the guys who are throwing this party and he told me he'd be here and he'd really like it if I came –"

"So you could have just come here by yourself, Brooke! You didn't have to drag me down here with you."

"I couldn't come alone! He would think I came just for him!" Before Haley could point out that that was the reason she came, Brooke added, "Lesson one on boys, James, you wanna seem interested, but not desperate."

"So why didn't you just ask the other girls you know to come with you? Like that Rachel girl."

"Because Rachel, well…she's okay if you want to know where the cool place to go is or something, but she, well…if I brought her here then for all I know she'd probably try to get him for herself, you know," Brooke tried to make Haley understand.

Haley's face soured "And I'm the safe choice because he just wouldn't be attracted to me?"

"What? No!" Brooke exclaimed, and she sounded so shocked that Haley believed it was genuine. "I mean that Rachel's kind of bitchy and well, who knows whether he'd like her or not, but she'd definitely put the moves on him. And I know that we don't know each other all that well, but you don't seem like the kind of person who'd do that to another girl's boyfriend – or, in this case, potential boyfriend," Brooke admitted.

"I wouldn't," Haley informed her.

Brooke smiled. "I thought so. And, wasn't it fun? Getting ready together?"

Haley's face broke out into a small smile. She had to admit that doing all that girly stuff with Brooke had been kind of fun. "Yeah."

"Plus," Brooke returned her grin, "if I had really thought he wouldn't be attracted to you, no way I would have dressed you up all hot and given you my skirt to show off those legs and that ass in."

Haley was about to laugh, but it died in her throat when she felt a small thud on her rear. "Brooke!"

"What now?"

"You just slapped my ass!" Haley ground out through her teeth.

Brooke rolled her eyes like it was no big deal. "You seriously need to lighten up."

Haley prevented herself from making an unladylike growl type sound and tried to approach it from a perspective Brooke might understand. "Well, you don't want this guy to think you're a lesbian, do you?"

"Haley, slapping another girl's ass does not mean that you're lesbian, and, I don't know. I don't know him that well yet and he might think that's kind of hot." When Haley looked horrified, Brooke burst into giggles again, "Just kidding, James! Well, to be honest, I don't know if he thinks that thing is hot, but if he does, don't worry, I won't ask you to participate in any kinky threesomes."

Haley was about to exclaim Brooke's name, but was saved from having to when a much deeper voice among the crowd did so. Both girls turned to find a tall, blond, blue-eyed boy approaching them and when Brooke grinned, Haley had a feeling that this wasn't just some random guy, but the boy Brooke had come to see.

"Hey, you made it."

"Yep." Brooke nodded.

"I'm glad you came."

Brooke smiled, but just said nonchalantly, "We were just looking for a cool party."

When she looked at Haley for encouragement, Haley nodded vigorously. "We just love to party," she added, doing her best to sound convincing.

Lucas grinned, before Brooke jumped in. "Oh, what's wrong with me? Haley this is Lucas. Lucas, this is Haley, my roommate."

"It's nice to meet you," he said.

"You too."

"So, me and my friends were sitting over there," Lucas gestured to his right. "Do you two want to join us?"

Haley looked at Brooke who pretended to contemplate it for a moment before saying, "Sure, why not?"

* * *

Nathan Scott was sitting on a chair quietly minding his own business when a hand slapped his back, causing a 'thwack' sound and making him nearly choke on his beer. After he had put the drink down and finished coughing, he turned to glare at his friend. "Tim! What the hell were you doing?"

"Sorry, man. Accident."

Nathan just shook his head and sat back in his chair while his friends around him continued their conversation, somewhat slurred by their level of intoxication. Nathan had been at the party just as long as they had, but for some reason he hadn't felt like drinking all that much. He wasn't even all that interested in the girls, which surprised both his brother and himself.

It was hard to explain, but he was starting to find college…kind of boring really. People had told him about the parties and the girls and the freedom, but…there was no newness there, for him. He'd thrown his fair share of parties, and had way more than his fair share of girls at his high school, plus his parents hadn't really cared much so he'd always had a lot of freedom.

He wasn't sure what he had been expecting of college, but on some level he supposed he thought it would be different. Yet, aside from the fact that his Dad wasn't breathing over his shoulder about basketball there didn't feel like there was that much difference. Nathan just wanted something more…interesting than all the sameness in his life.

His first two days at college had certainly been interesting, he thought with a small smile on his face, thanks to, of all things, a screw up in the accommodation office, which had landed him in not only the wrong dorm, but with a girl as a roommate. Nathan couldn't help but smile as he thought of the girl in question; shy, smart and an incessant rambler, she was far from what he expected in his roommate, not least in terms of gender. However, that acquaintance had only lasted two days since the accommodation department had soon reallocated him to another building. They had exchanged cell phone numbers, but Nathan had decided he shouldn't call after just one day so he had waited for two full days to pass by before dialling her number – and she never answered. He wasn't sure exactly why; Haley hadn't seemed like the kind of person who just wouldn't pick up or at least call back, since the number would have registered, but as the days went by with her never calling back, he realised that she had no intention of calling him back, and that was fine by him. Or, so he kept telling himself.

As Nathan's mind wandered, one of the guys sitting in their group got up to get a refill of his drink. The moment he left, the girl who had previously been fawning over him turned to Nathan, who's chair was on her other side, a sultry smile on her face as she twirled her curls around her index finger in what she clearly thought was a very sexy action. "It's Nathan, right?"

Nathan nodded warily. "I don't suppose the fact that I don't remember your name is going to make you stop doing that, huh?"

She laughed as if he had made some hilarious joke, and it was so loud that even Tim stopped chugging back his liquor to stare bewildered at her. "You're so funny, Nathan," she said when she had finally stopped, moving forward to place her hand on Nathan's chest, which he prevented by leaning backwards in his already unsteady chair.

"Hey guys!"

At the sound of his roommate's voice, Nathan looked up and was taken aback beyond belief at the sight of the girl standing next to him. And, without realising it, he suddenly fell out of his chair.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who replied to the last chapter! I'm glad you are enjoying it. **

**Chapter Two: About A Boy, About A Girl**

As he landed ass-first on the ground, Nathan realised that it wasn't so much that he fell out of his chair, but more that his chair fell out from underneath him. The chair wasn't quite stable and he had been leaning back so his weight was being balanced just on the chair's hind legs. The sight of the very person he'd been thinking about, someone he hadn't thought he'd see again, had jolted him into leaning back even further, and as a result, he fell. However, since none of the others had been sitting on said chair, they all thought that Nathan had just fallen off of it for no apparent reason.

Haley was the first to cry out when Nathan hit the floor and immediately ran around the others to get to him.

Lucas approached him from the other side, asking, "Are you okay?"

Nathan managed a nod and was trying to get up when Haley reached him. "Here," she said, as she helped him sit up straight. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Nathan turned to look at Haley who was kneeling beside him. "Yeah, it wasn't anything. Thanks, Haley."

Although Lucas heard the conversation, the fact that they knew each other didn't strike him immediately, but it didn't pass Brooke's notice. She eyed them curiously as they both stood up and was waiting for a moment to catch Haley's gaze.

"I think I'll get rid of this," Lucas said and moved the chair Nathan had been sitting on out of the way. "Everyone, this is Brooke, and this is Haley," he pointed them out. "Brooke and Haley, these are the guys, plus…" he trailed off when he saw two girls he didn't recognize amongst the group.

The girl who had been hanging onto Nathan ignored him, but the girl sitting in between Tim and Skills smiled at them. "I'm Bevin."

Brooke flashed her a smile, before facing Haley. "So, you two know each other?" she asked point blank, looking between her and Nathan.

Lucas furrowed a brow waiting for the answer before Nathan said, "We were roommates…sort of."

"Where? At, like, camp?" Bevin piped up.

Haley shook her head. "Er, remember the mix-up in rooms at the start of the semester?" she reminded Brooke.

Lucas laughed. "You two were roommates that first day?" he asked incredulously.

"Hang on a second!" Brooke interrupted. "Who did you have as your roommate that first night then?" she said to Lucas.

"No one. I thought that my roommate was just late, but then when Nathan moved in the next day he told me that the accommodation office had messed it up."

"Wait, so that very first night, you had a room to yourself, you two," she said to Nathan and Haley, "slept in the same room, and I had to find in a motel? That's so unfair!"

Skills just chuckled, but Tim felt the need to voice his opinion on the matter. "Dude, you had a chick for a roommate?" he said to Nathan. "Why'd you tell them about the mix-up? I mean, no offence, Luke, but I'd much rather room with you, babe, than pretty boy," he grinned at Haley.

She smiled politely at him before staring at her feet, while Nathan glared at Tim over the top of her head.

"Why don't we all sit down?" Lucas suggested, realising that the four of them were still standing.

The only space left was the long sofa, part of which was occupied by Theresa, the girl who had been flirting with Nathan. Annoyed that he seemed to have forgotten about her, she stood up, announcing that she had to go to the bathroom, and dragged Bevin off with her. Lucas sat on the far end of the couch, with Brooke next to him, then Haley and finally Nathan.

Haley was worried at first that Brooke would start bombarding her with questions, but Brooke and Lucas soon started conversing and stopped taking notice of the others. On the one hand, it meant Haley was free from Brooke's questions, which was a relief, but it also meant that she had nothing to do except talk to Nathan, and she wasn't sure how to approach that.

"So," he cleared his throat and looked over at her, "how've you been?"

"Okay. How about you?"

Nathan shrugged. "Not bad."

"Good," Haley nodded. "Um, you know," Haley began, not entirely sure how to word what she was trying to say, "remember that day we traded numbers?"

"Actually, yes, I do."

"I don't know if you tried it – I mean, not that I was like waiting for you to call or anything –"

"I did call."

Haley met his gaze, a smile growing on her face. "You did?"

"Yeah, I did." He had actually called more than once, but Nathan decided to keep that tidbit to himself since the others could most likely hear their conversation. "No one answered though."

"My phone broke," Haley explained.

"It broke? Did you drop it or something?"

Haley shook her head. "It's really old; it was my sister's first and it might have been my Dad's before that."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so," Haley went on, "it kind of just died on me the day after you moved out and at the store they said it was so old that I might as well buy a new one, which I did, but I lost all my numbers," she laughed as she finally finished. "I would have called you back if I had known."

"That's okay. It's not a big deal," Nathan shrugged it off, although he was secretly relieved that she hadn't just blown him off.

As he watched Lucas and Brooke leave to the dance floor, and Skills wandered off somewhere Nathan started to feel more comfortable now that they were alone; until he realised that Tim was still with them. He glanced over his shoulder at Tim, hoping that he would be able to give him some sort of message. Tim only grinned at Nathan and took another chug of his beer.

"So, how've your classes been going?" Haley asked, a pleased smile on her face, oblivious to Nathan's attempt at ESP with Tim.

"Okay. Same old stuff. You?"

"Oh, they've been great," Haley enthused. "I've got some really great professors and the lectures are so interesting! Did you hear about the guest lecturer who's coming next week?" Haley paused when she noticed the look on Nathan's face. "What?"

Nathan chuckled and shook his head, but Tim, who had been listening in said, "Whoa, you really like studying."

"Well…I…it's not so bad," Haley offered.

"No, it's cool," Nathan assured her.

Haley nodded, but then changed the topic with, "So what do you guys like doing?"

"Er, this," Tim stated, as if it was obvious.

Haley's mouth formed a silent "O" and she looked at her feet again.

Nathan was just about to speak when Tim exclaimed, "Whoa."

"What?" Nathan said glumly.

"I'm gonna get me some of that," Tim stated putting his cup on the table, standing up, and strutting over to the redhead that had just walked past them.

Haley forced out a short laugh after his departure. "So…he's interesting."

Nathan grinned at her. "You're probably the first person to say so."

This time her laugh was more heartfelt. Glancing around she saw Lucas and Brooke dancing, looking quite comfortable together. "So…it looks like our roommates…"

"Yeah. To be honest I wasn't really looking forward to coming when Lucas asked me to come with him, but now I'm glad I did."

"Oh." Haley looked slightly embarrassed and pleased at the same time. "But, erm, why didn't you want to come?" she asked quickly. "I thought you like doing 'this'."

Nathan chuckled. "Tim certainly does. These parties, they're okay, I guess…I'm just bored of them, I suppose."

"So what do _you_ like doing?" Haley asked, pulling her legs underneath her on the couch, making herself more comfortable. She didn't realise that the position showed off more of her legs, and Nathan, admiring the view, certainly wasn't about to tell her that.

"Uh," he cleared his throat before continuing, "I like to play basketball."

"Oh, I saw your sports stuff when you were in my room. Are you going to try out for college?"

"Actually, I'm on a basketball scholarship."

"Wow. You must be really good."

Nathan shrugged like it was no big deal. "Do you like basketball?"

"Erm…" Haley paused for a moment and though, absent-mindedly twining a piece of hair around her finger as she bit the side of her lip, in what Nathan noted was a very cute expression. "Is that the one where they score touchdowns?"

As he burst out laughing, Nathan decided he was extremely glad he hadn't been drinking at that moment, or something unpleasant would have occurred, and that certainly wasn't the impression he wanted to make. Not that laughing at her would make a much better one, but he just couldn't help himself.

"I'm guessing that's a no," Haley said quietly. "You can probably tell I don't watch much sports."

"It's the one where they score baskets," he explained when he had recovered.

"Ah. Hence, _basket_-ball," Haley stated, feeling like a dork for opening her mouth.

Nathan nodded his agreement and looked at her.

Immediately, Haley was reminded of the very first time they met; more precisely, the very first time he had that same look; the _smirk_. Only that time he had been wearing nothing more than a short white towel wrapped around his hips. The instant she thought of it, images from that moment came flooding back, and she started brushing profusely.

Oh, crap.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you to Christina for betaing and to everyone who's reviewed: thanks so much. I'm really glad you guys are enjoying this story, and I hope you like this update too.**

**Chapter Three**

**The Way They Came Into Each Other's Lives**

Nathan couldn't help but grin when she started to blush. She didn't seem to realize it, but her mouth curved slightly upwards into a small smile when she did, and the combination looked adorable, in his opinion. The night had suddenly gone from boring to…interesting. Yep, Nathan would definitely have to thank Lucas later for dragging him here.

Haley folded her arms and looked at the leather couch as if it was fascinating, deciding not to open her mouth until she was sure she had got her foot out of it.

"So, um…" Nathan began, not sure exactly what to say. "Have you been enjoying yourself?" he asked, returning to the safe subject of college.

"Um, yeah, I guess. It's okay."

"But only okay?" Nathan prodded.

Haley bit the corner of her lip as she tried to articulate her thoughts. "I guess it's just that I'm not really good at meeting new people. I mean, when you go to college, everyone tells you, 'Oh, you're all in the same boat, it'll be fine', but you're only gonna meet people if you put yourself out there and I…haven't, really."

"Why not?"

Haley shrugged. "I just…I don't really like to go out so that kind of makes it harder."

"But you came here?" Nathan reminded her.

"That was mostly Brooke's doing."

Nathan chuckled. "So you got dragged here too, then?"

Haley nodded. "You could say that."

"So…do you regret that you came here?"

Haley smiled. "Well…I could have had such a nice night in my PJ's curled up in with bed with my Norton," she laughed.

"Who?" Nathan blurted, it coming out more than just a little louder than he intended.

"My Norton Anthology," Haley stated. "It's a book."

"Oh."

Haley grinned as realization dawned. "Wait, you thought Norton was a guy?"

Nathan shrugged. "Well, it's a guy's name!" he said defensively.

She giggled. "Yeah, but if I had a boyfriend, I'd have probably brought him here with me," Haley pointed out.

"So, you don't have a boyfriend?"

"Oh, well, no."

Nathan nodded, digesting that bit of information, before gesturing to the dance floor. "Um, do you want to dance?"

"No," Haley blurted out.

Nathan blanched. "Oh. Okay. Um…"

"Oh!" Haley said startled, sitting upright. "Did you mean like…with you?"

Nathan gave her what Haley could only label an, 'Of course I did, you idiot' look, and said, "Sort of."

"Oh," Haley repeated, blushing in embarrassment. "I-I didn't realize. I thought you meant like dancing in general," she explained.

Nathan grinned. "I meant with me."

Haley nodded slowly, mortified. "I just - I don't like to dance. At all. I'm a huge klutz, as you've probably noticed."

Nathan's eyebrow furrowed. "I'm the guy who fell off his chair. Where have you been the klutz tonight?"

"You haven't noticed that my foot is stuck in my mouth?"

Nathan laughed at that. "Well, that's kind of hard to miss," he said, cheekily.

Haley would have said something at that if it wasn't so true. She leaned back against the couch and sighed. "I probably should have stayed home tonight. I'm sure Norton and I would have had a better time of it."

"Well, I'm glad you came," Nathan informed her.

Haley turned her head to her right and smiled at him.

A moment later he added, "This is the part where you say 'You're glad you came too.'"

Haley grinned, but then pretended to look perplexed. "And why would I say that?"

Nathan smirked at her. "So, you'd rather be with Norton right now?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

* * *

Don't yawn, Haley told herself. Whatever you do, don't yawn.

It was past eleven and they were still at the frat party. Eleven was definitely early for these people who clearly intended to party for many more hours to come. But, for Haley James? Eleven was bedtime.

Not that she wanted Nathan to know that. She really was enjoying just sitting here and talking to him, which was all they had done – not that Haley could blame him; after what she said when he had asked her to dance, she wouldn't have asked her to do anything either. But, the talking had been really great, and while she would love to sit there and talk to him for even longer…she really wanted to go to bed now.

But, she couldn't yawn. And she shouldn't want to go to sleep! She was nineteen years old, damn it, and she was a college girl! College girls did not go want to go to sleep at eleven.

Nathan finished speaking and when Haley opened her mouth to reply, a yawn escaped her lips.

Apparently, this college girl did.

Nathan smirked at her. "Am I boring you?"

"What? No!" Haley said immediately. "I'm just a little tired."

"Long day?"

"Erm…something like that." Actually it was nothing like that. But he didn't have to know that, right?

"Oh, okay. Do you want me to help you find Brooke or…"

"No, actually, I can see her," Haley told him. She looked over to her friend who was at the bar, flirting with Lucas, and managed to catch her attention when Brooke glanced around the room. Brooke had wanted them to have a system so before they left their dorm they had come up with certain signals. Haley gave the one that said, "I'm going back to the room because I need my beauty sleep," while Brooke sent her back the one that said, "Go back without me. I'm going to get laid."

Recognizing Brooke's signal and the name she had given it Haley couldn't help but grin. She turned to Nathan. "I'll be going then. But, now I have your number so I guess…I can call you – back, you know. Or you can call me…if you want to," she added hastily.

"Yeah, I will," Nathan said, assuredly, bringing back Haley's smile. "But, Brooke doesn't seem to be getting ready to leave," he pointed out, gesturing to where their roommates were sitting.

"She's not. She's going to be…here for a bit. Possibly, your room even," Haley added, causing Nathan to groan.

"Great. But, then, you'll be going back by yourself?"

Haley shrugged. "It's no biggie. Our dorm actually isn't that far away."

"Did you drive here?"

"Oh, no, it's so close we walked –"

"You can't walk back by yourself!" Nathan said firmly.

"It's not that dangerous. It's really close by, it's well-lit and I have pepper spray," Haley tapped the side of her shoulder bag.

"Well, I'm glad you do, but I still think that you shouldn't be walking alone."

"I don't think Brooke would appreciate me dragging her away from Lucas so –"

"I meant that I could take you."

Haley had been about to get off the sofa, but stopped her movement when she heard him speak. "You did?"

"Yeah. I mean, I don't mind. Plus, if what you say is true it looks like I'll have to avoid my dorm room as long as possible."

Haley laughed at that. "True. But, you don't have to miss out on the party on my account."

Nathan smirked at that. "Haven't you noticed that I'd rather talk to you?"

Haley blushed, and started staring at the floor. "Oh…um…"

"Would you mind if I walked you? I mean, don't even do it for you. You can do it for me."

At that Haley gave him a look. "For you?"

"I'm sure you'll be able to defend yourself with your trusty pepper spray against any bad guy or vampires there might be out there, but I'd really feel a lot better if you let me come with you," Nathan explained.

Haley couldn't help but laugh. "Okay," she said. "That'd be nice."

Nathan nodded and stood, waiting for her to get up, allowing her to lead the way out.

"Don't you want to say bye to anyone?" Haley asked him over her shoulder.

With a glance over to where Brooke was dragging Lucas out to the dance floor, Nathan told her, "I don't think he's going to notice me gone."

"Good point. Ah, fresh air at last," Haley sighed once they were finally outside and breathed in deep. As she did so, she realised that the fresh air was also quite cold and she hugged her arms around herself. She had known she was going to regret Brooke making her wear this sleeveless top Taylor had bought her, not to mention Brooke's damn short skirt.

"Feeling cold?" Nathan stated the obvious.

"A little," Haley admitted as they began walking down the path.

"Well, I'd offer you my jacket, but unfortunately I don't have one."

Haley laughed, smiling to herself at the offer. "Well, I appreciate the sentiment."

"But, I could always give you my shirt."

When Haley cast him a sideways glance, he put his hands on the hem and made like he was going to pull it off. "Oh my God, Nathan! You can't take your shirt off; we're in the middle street! And, you'll freeze!"

"You've seen me shirtless before Haley; you know I'm made of harder stuff than that."

Haley couldn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks at that remark. "Just keep your clothes on, okay?"

Still smirking, he looked over at her. "You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Although, the way she practically yelled it probably detracted from the words.

"Okay. Your loss," he added, still smirking.

Haley sent him a quick glare before looking straight ahead and concentrating on walking as fast as she could to get out of the cold.

8 fun-filled minutes later they had arrived at her, previously their, dorm room. "So…um, thanks for walking me back. You really didn't have to walk me all the way inside."

Nathan stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged his shoulders, an easy smile gracing his lips. "I wanted to."

"Okay. Well, um, thanks," Haley repeated.

Nathan opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of his phone beeping. He brought his right hand out of his pocket with the cell phone in hand and flipped it open, chuckling when he read the text message.

"What is it?" Haley wondered.

"It's Lucas with my five minute warning to stay away from our dorm room for as long as possible. 2 a.m. the earliest."

"2 a.m.?" Haley blurted without thinking, "It's not even half past 11. Does it really take that long?" she wondered, and then clapped a hand over her mouth when she realised she had said so aloud.

Nathan smirked at her, but appeared curious. "Why, how long do you –"

"Please don't finish that sentence," Haley interrupted, certain that if he did, she'd only end up embarrassing herself further.

"Okay," Nathan relented. "I guess I'll be going back to the frat house, then. Biding my time until it's safe to go back to my dorm. Or I'll just crash in Tim's room or something for tonight."

"Or," Haley began before she could stop herself, "you could…stay, if you wanted."

"Here?"

Haley shrugged, trying to act like it was no big deal. "Yeah."

Nathan looked thoughtful. "Well, I kind of take longer than until 2 a.m., but…"

Haley gasped out loud. "No, I meant – I didn't –"

"I'm joking, Haley," Nathan said quickly, holding his hands up as he tried to stop her outburst. "I'm just kidding with you. I know what you meant."

Still blushing, Haley crossed her arms and looked away. "Okay."

When she didn't look at him, or say anything else, he tilted his head to the side to catch a glimpse of her expression. "Mad at me?"

"No."

"But, you wish to retract your offer?" he surmised.

Haley rolled her eyes and sighed. "No, not really. Brooke's kicking you out of your room, you may as well use hers. I mean, just until you go back or whatever."

"And you don't mind?"

Haley shrugged. "It's not like we haven't before."

"No, I guess not."

"Well, um, it's totally up to you, you know," Haley assured him. When Nathan nodded, but didn't reply, she asked, "So, um, do you want to?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So, I have to say, I am so sorry about how long this chapter has taken. I blame real life and I hope that gaps between updates won't be quite as long again. This chapter picks up right where the previous chapter left off so you might need to refresh your memory before reading this hehe. Thanks to Christina for beta'ing and to all who reviewed the last chapter.**

**Chapter Four:**

**Spend The Night**

"Sure."

Haley blinked as Nathan responded, making sure she had hear him correctly. "Y-you do?"

He nodded, smiling. "Yeah. As long as it's okay," he added when she didn't say anything.

"N-no, it's okay. I mean, of course, it is – why would I have offered if it wasn't?" she asked, aiming for nonchalance, but couldn't help her slightly nervous laughter. Haley mentally commanded herself to pull it together. She had slept in the same room as Nathan barely two weeks ago. There was no reason why she couldn't now. Taking her key out, Haley unlocked the door and went inside. "Well, here it is…of course you already know that since you've been here before," she added.

Nathan nodded as he followed her in and glanced around the room. "It didn't look quite so pink the last time I was here though."

"Yeah, that's Brooke work," Haley informed him. "So, um, I'm just going to go to the bathroom and change, but I'll be back soon," she added as she opened her drawer and began taking out her clothes, mentally wondering why she had volunteered so much information.

"Well, if you'd rather change here don't feel like you have to go on my account."

Haley stopped mid-step to stare at Nathan and found him smirking at her. Of course, she was going on his account! She wanted to glare at him but that damn smirk turned her insides to mush. "I'm not…I'm just going to…uh, yeah," she muttered before rushing off to the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

As Nathan heard the lock click into place, he couldn't help but smile wider at her antics. He hoped she didn't seriously think he was going to burst in on her while she was changing. Tempting as it was, he had never needed to resort to something like that with girls, and he wasn't going to now. Of course, in his experience, most of the girls would have wanted him to come in.

Not Haley James though. Nathan didn't think he had ever used the word adorable in his life before, but it seemed to be a perfect word to describe Haley. She was adorable – and always seemed kind of nervous. He knew he should probably ease up on teasing her, but it was too much fun! Looking around the room, Nathan wondered whether it would be okay for him to sit down even though she hadn't said he could. He also wondered what she wore to sleep.

Inside the small bathroom, Haley hung her clean clothes on the railing and turned to come face to face with her own reflection. Normally the only times she stared at herself in the mirror was to poke at her pimples, but this time she went up to it and examined her face. A quick once over confirmed she looked just the same as she always did, unruly hair and small nose in place, so what on earth was Nathan Scott doing in her bedroom?

_Because you invited him in, you idiot_, the voice in her head replied. Gosh, the voice in her head was rude!

Deciding to just stop thinking about it, Haley removed her top and skirt, letting them fall to the floor before picking up her t-shirt and slipping it over her head. She then reached for her pyjama trousers but was shocked to find herself holding another of the old t-shirts she slept in. Realising she must have grabbed two of them by mistake and then forgotten to get the other part of her nightwear Haley groaned aloud.

She quickly looked around for her skirt so she could put it back on, but inwardly cursed her luck when she realised it had fallen onto a part of the bathroom floor that was wet from when she had showered earlier. Unless she wanted Nathan to comment on the wet patches now forming on it, which she didn't, there was no way would she put that back on before it was dry and from the looks of it that would take awhile.

Wearing only her t-shirt and underwear, Haley began to pace up and down the small space trying to figure out what to do next. She _could_ ask Nathan if he would take out one of her pyjama trousers for her and pass it to her –

No. Her _underwear_ was in that same drawer. She was not going to ask Nathan to do something that purposely let him see all her small, unsexy bras – although he could already be doing that while she stayed inside for ages!

He didn't seem the kind to go snooping out other people's drawers but hey, she didn't really know him that well. And, she wasn't sure which embarrassing possessions she had left lying about the room so it was probably best she went back out as soon as possible.

Save for going out in only her panties – which was _not_ an option even if she didn't take into account the fact that they were very Bridget Jones – there was only one thing left for her to wear on her lower half so Haley quickly wrapped it around her waist and put the now damp clothes she had worn to the party on the towel railing before going back to the room.

She found Nathan towering over her desk looking at the books she had left out. "That's just some work," she told him.

"Yeah, I was jus-" he started to reply before stopping when he saw her. The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile, before asking, "Do you normally sleep in a towel?"

"No." Haley rolled her eyes even though she knew the t-shirt and towel combo looked a bit odd; it was his fault she had to wear it anyway! "I'm going to just go to sleep, but if you want to watch TV or something I don't mind," she offered.

"No, that's okay," Nathan assured her. "I think I might hit the sack as well."

"Are you tired?" Haley wondered, but received her answer only a moment later when a yawn escaped his mouth. "Oh okay. Well, just make yourself comfortable," she said before sitting on her bed and crawling under the covers.

"Thanks, I will," Nathan replied before proceeding to remove his shirt.

Haley knew she should have been prepared for it, but she just couldn't look away. She may have seen him sans shirt before, but never in the act of taking off his shirt before, and boy, that was just as nice to look at, if not even more so with the way the muscles in his forearms positively rippled in movement. And, gah, he had a nice back!

Peeking out from under the covers, Haley practically pouted at the sight. Why couldn't he have long icky underarm hair or something that would make her less flustered in front of him! And why couldn't she think of something to say that sounded sexy and sophisticated! Her brain was stuck on, "Oooooh."

Nathan turned sideways to hang his shirt on the back of her desk chair, so luckily, he still couldn't notice her staring and, as an added bonus, showed her even more of his back. When his hands moved to the belt buckle of his pants and started loosening it, Haley knew she really should look away but her eyes remained transfixed on his hands, or rather, what they were doing.

But then, suddenly they stopped doing.

Frowning, Haley looked up to see what had stopped Nathan and with a shock realised he was focused on her.

The smirk on his face told her she had definitely been caught staring, which meant now was the time more than ever to throw out some flirtatious comment.

She thought of everything Peyton had ever taught her at high school, and what Brooke had added in their short time together. Then she proceeded to sink lower into the bed and pull the sheet up to cover her now completely red face.

There was silence for a moment, before Nathan said, "Haley?"

From his tone she could tell he was still smirking, which only served to increase her embarrassment. "Yes?" was her muffled reply.

"What are you doing under there?"

"I, uh…" Even though it was far too late to save face Haley did her best to by pretending she actually was doing something. She untied the towel on her waist and placed it on her nightstand, before resting her head back on her pillow, lowering the sheet slightly, but only up to her nose.

To her surprise Nathan was no longer smirking; in fact, he looked very interested in her nightstand. "So, you really don't sleep in a towel."

"No, I already said I don't," Haley replied.

"Then, why were you wearing it?"

"Because!" Haley answered, a little indignant.

"What were you hiding underneath it?" Nathan joked.

"I didn't have anything underneath it!" Haley exclaimed, but when Nathan's eyes grew wide she realised how that sounded. "No – I meant – I have stuff on – I was wearing…"

"Yes?" Nathan prompted eagerly.

"Stuff."

Nathan chuckled, but didn't say anything while Haley managed to avoided the urge to dive back under the covers again, albeit barely.

Finishing with his belt buckle, Nathan took the belt out of its loops and hung it on top of his shirt, but to Haley's surprise and, if she was being honest with herself, displeasure, he didn't undress further. Instead he simply moved towards Brooke's bed, the same one he had occupied the one night he had stayed there, and got in.

Haley supposed it was probably a good thing he kept his jeans on. Perhaps he was actually thinking about being respectful to Brooke and to her as well. She could think a little more clearly with a half naked Nathan nearby rather than a three-quarters naked Nathan nearby. However, the words naked and Nathan in the same sentence were starting to conjure up interesting mental images in her head, and she suddenly wondered if the real reason he had kept his jeans on was because he had gone commando that day.

She quickly tried to banish that thought from her mind. No, he must have kept them on because he was sleeping in someone else's bed, something that Brooke would surely appreciate. Brooke wouldn't want some guy sleeping in her bed without most of his clothes on, unless she was sleeping in there too so-

Ew. That was a bad mental image. Haley wrinkled her nose since she definitely didn't want to consider Brooke's sex life and that 2 a.m. thing Nathan had mentioned earlier.

Well, at least, that would prevent her from doing something silly like jumping on Nathan and trying to kiss his forearm. However, as her head rolled to the side of her pillow and she watched Nathan settling down in bed, Haley realised even that mood damper couldn't quite restrain her longings.

Once he had pulled the covers up, resting his arms over them, Nathan's head lolled to the side and met Haley's gaze. "Goodnight."

She smiled back, hoping she wasn't betraying any of her lustful thoughts. "Goodnight."

She expected Nathan to turn back around, but he didn't, instead remaining on his side, not breaking their gaze. Her smile faltered as she began to feel increasingly nervous, now that neither of them was saying or doing anything. She gave him a few more moments to turn, but when he didn't, she quickly turned around and switched the lamp off, sending the room into total darkness.


End file.
